Who: Bobby Will, chef and restaurant owner
Will’s impressive track record includes receiving a prestigious “excellent” rating from The New York Times for his Port Chester, New York, oyster bar, Saltaire, and being recognized as one of a dozen millennial chefs changing the face of the industry by Thrillest.
What: Salt & Steel, Bar Harbor’s new fine-dining, farm-to-table experience with an emphasis on hyper-local sourcing (opened 2019)
“The name Salt & Steel embodies my view on cooking. Salt being the basis of flavor, used to enhance a dish, and steel being the tools—the chef’s knives, tongs, and stainless-steel tables—that we use to craft the food,” says Will.
He credits his Sous Chef, Brandon Sanders, and his “amazingly wonderful team at Salt & Steel” (including his fiancé and co-owner, Kimberly Kraus) for making it all possible.
Salt & Steel’s menu includes comfort foods that we’re all familiar with, but with an added upscale twist, like Will’s pastrami spiced pork tenderloin (see recipe on page x), made to remind people of a pastrami sandwich.
Why: “I want diners to leave Salt & Steel having experienced a flurry of memories and emotions.”
Will also wants to remind people that, “Maine cuisine is more than just lobster rolls and blueberry pie.”